Here we go again - why the snarl-ups are back (From Dorset Echo)

Here we go again - why the snarl-ups are back

12:01pm Saturday 19th July 2008

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ROAD repairs causing gridlock on Weymouth's Dorchester Road are the result of structural problems that went unnoticed during resurfacing work just two years ago.

Engineers say the the roadworks now under way had to be carried out before the road collapsed.

Dorset County Council highways engineer Jerry Gerlach said that two years ago faults in the road's basic structure were not detected because workers were not looking for them.

He said: "The work we did then was primarily a resurfacing job and to put in traffic islands as part of our scheme for safer routes to schools. We weren't looking at the foundations.

"Because all the traffic has been running over the road for many years we thought it was okay and we were surprised when we found the surface was deformed. It was during a routine inspection a few weeks ago, we noticed there was a dip forming. When we had a look it was where the road had been widened many years ago - the whole thing was collapsing.

"The surface was only laid two years ago but it's not the surface that's the problem, it's the structure in the lower layers that went down 30 to 40 years ago and was not done to current standards."

Mr Gerlach added: "These are emergency works we are doing at the moment, rather than planned works, as a result of the road collapsing. We were anxious to get this work completed before the main summer break, otherwise we would be in danger of the road completely collapsing and it would have had to be cordoned off so only a single lane would remain open over a period of the summer."

Traffic signals are in place on the section of Dorchester Road that is under maintenance, causing lengthy delays for vehicles coming in and out of the town during a traditionally busy period for the resort. Mr Gerlach said he is expecting the signals to be removed this weekend and the works should be completed by Monday evening. He said: "For two weeks we were able to work without signals but this week we have had to have signals 24 hours a day as we have to let the concrete cure. We are hoping to remove the signals this weekend and we will have a stop-go sign in place on Monday."

Mr Gerlach stressed that the works would not be authorised for the summer unless they were essential. He said: "People have doubted that they are emergency works, and they are bound to, but there is no way we would do it at this time of year unless it was deteriorating so rapidly it was an emergency."

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